Spiderbite

In 1997, Orion announced a new series of young adult novels. Editor Simon Spanton gathered together six authors and between them they developed the shared scenario of The Web.

In the shared future of this multi-author series, children spend much of their spare time, and most of their school time, in the virtual reality world of the Web. Large sectors of Webworld are devoted to education: history, for example, really comes to life when you can talk with a virtual ancient Roman, or investigate Olde England in person. These Edutainment sectors of the Web are carefully managed to create safe and stimulating environments for children to explore.

There should be no secrets in Edutainment — that’s the whole point.

So why has Conrad found a part of the Ancient Greece sector where access is forbidden? Every time he tries to get into the Labyrinth a dog-sized security spider attacks him, ejecting him from the Web. These spiders are meant to keep people out of high security areas, or to keep children out of adult-only areas. There’s no reason why Conrad should have found one where he has.